Court orders trial for car driver who caused fatal coach crash in Benalmádena

Instruction Court No. 1 in Torremolinos has ordered that the car driver accused of causing a fatal coach accident in Benalmádena three years ago is to stand trial. Nine Finnish tourists died and another 26 people were injured when his four wheel drive vehicle collided with the coach on the A-7 motorway to Málaga in April 2008, causing the coach to turn over.

He now faces nine counts of involuntary manslaughter through serious negligence, another 26 of causing injury, negligent driving and driving under the influence of alcohol. La Opinión de Málaga reports that the car driver, J.G.R., tested positive for alcohol and was driving at more than 150 kph, when the limit on the road was 120 kph.

It’s understood that the state prosecution and the private accusation have both applied for a four year prison term and a ban from driving for six years.

 

Marbella restaurant owner considering allowing his customers to smoke again

The owner of the Asador Guadalmina in San Pedro de Alcántara which was closed down for a period for ignoring Spain’s new smoking legislation, says he may allow smoking on the premises again.

José Eugenio Arias-Camison told La Opinión de Málaga on Thursday that he will allow his customers to smoke from September 30 if his business continues to suffer losses. He said his clientele has dropped by between 30 and 40% since he reopened the restaurant as a smoke-free zone.

Sources at the Junta de Andalucía’s health department told the newspaper that if the owner fails to observe the law he will be closed down again. He’s already been fined 145,000 €, for his 39-day ‘mutiny’ after the new legislation came into force, although it’s understood that the health department has now been reduced the amount to 90,000 €.

The paper indicates that Arias-Camisón is hopeful that the Partido Popular will overturn the legislation if they win the next general election.

 

No ‘espeto’ ban on Costa del Sol beaches

THE Environmental Department will not ban skewered sardines or ‘espetos’ from being cooked on Costa del Sol beaches this summer. Malaga’s beach restaurants were worried after the Junta de Andalucia banned the practice in Granada, but the Provincial Delegation of the Environmental Council has confirmed that at least for this summer, the tradition will continue in Malaga.

 

Eccentric ex-pat Robert Allan, 62, wanted a car which would stand out from the crowd in the playboy’s paradise of Marbella

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So he bought a silver Rolls-Royce for £200,000 and spent another £200,000 transforming it – with a purple, yellow and white paint job, over-the-top interior and lashings of real GOLD.

Robert enlisted the help of prestige London car dealer SuperVettura and UK designer Pablo Rabiella to oversee the six-month overhaul on a car used, by the likes of Lord Alan Sugar and Simon Cowell.



But it is doubtful the multi-millionaire Apprentice and X Factor stars would turn up to an important business meeting in this Rolls-Royce.

Engineers and designers took the three-ton car and stripped its body before applying 18 layers of paint in three separate colours.

After the re-spray, which took a painstaking four months, the craftsmen started work on the interior and used 24 cowhides.

Robert, who is from England but has homes all over the world, had the car delivered in the past fortnight to his property in Marbella.

He said: ”I’ve owned a number of customised cars in the past and I wanted this to be the most extreme yet.

”The Rolls-Royce Phantom is one of the finest cars to travel in but I wanted to give it a bit more of an edge and make it look like nothing seen on the roads before.



”I’m delighted with how it’s turned out.”

Tommy Wareham, managing director of SuperVettura, said: ”We know Robert very well and know he likes a bit of colour on his cars so we were more than happy to work with him on this project.

”We used the highest quality hides, the gold you see is all real gold, triple layers of paints with metal flakes and 18 layers of lacquer which was polished over and over again during application, the time spent on the car was epic.

”I believe this is the most highly modified Phantom in the world, no expense was spared.”

Once the vehicle was finished Mr Wareham then had the enviable task of driving the £400,000 Rolls-Royce the 1,500 mile route from London to Marbella.



He added: ”Most people who saw the car in the UK assumed it was owned by a wealthy Middle-Eastern businessman over here for the summer.

”So they’re always surprised to find it’s owned by British chap who has lived in the south of England for many years.

”He has homes across the world but spends a great deal of time in Marbella where there are plenty of eccentric people with flash cars – the car is very much at home!”

FROM July 4, drivers will have to pay to park in 1,300 spaces in 30 of Marbella’s main streets where until now they could park for free.

Parking meters are being installed throughout the town for what those in favour of the project believe will increase turn-over and boost shopping in the town centre, although 260 of the spaces will be reserved for residents. These will be painted in green and will allow users to park for up to five hours, while the blue parking spaces will only allow for two hours parking.

For the first few days, no fines will be issued for those who fail to abide by the timetables, and instead they will be informed of the new set-up by the 14 wardens who will join the six who already work in Puerto Banus. There will be no excuse not to pay, as the parking meters will even accept credit cards.

Residents in the area will be able to pay €100 per year to park for unlimited periods in green parking spaces, but having the card doesn’t guarantee a space.

ROADWORKS will continue to be disrupt drivers in San Pedro for the foreseeable future.

 A Public Works Ministry report revealed the works of the €85m San Pedro underpass will be delayed, with not date set for its completion. Until the underpass is completed, residents and commuters will be forced to endure tailbacks which will only worsen now summer has arrived.

British housewife Andrea Williams said: “When I am coming back from Estepona I find it very frustrating to sit in a queue of traffic, waiting for 20 cars to do u-turns as there is no left turn to go back to San Pedro.”

Marbella Mayor, Angeles Muñoz, said she will demand an explanation for the delay from the Public Works Minister, Jose Blanco. Muñoz said that the delay “directly affects and endangers the financial recovery of Marbella” and has referred to it as “serious irresponsibility from the central government”.

Expat Mark Wilkins, works in San Pedro, believes the “increase in queues and inconvenience due to the underpass not being open is restricting the commercial development of San Pedro.” Meanwhile, Malcolm Spendlove owner of Passion Café in the town said: “It really hurt my business at the beginning but it is slowly coming back. Once it is finished it will be a great place to come on holiday. The work is professional but slow.”

The tunnel project had been announced for decades and responded to constant demands from San Pedro Alcantara to do away with the only traffic lights on the A-7 between Barcelona and Algeciras, and boost the economy of the area. Work finally began almost five years ago and should have finished in 2009. Once completed an estimated 65,000 cars will use the one-kilometre tunnel daily.

Californian band the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be on tour in Spain in December this year

Californian band the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be on tour in Spain in December this year to promote their latest studio album "Im with You", which will be released on August 30th.

So far only two concert dates in Spain have been confirmed - December 15th at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona and December 17th at the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid. Tickets will go on sale on june 30th at all the normal outlets.

The group's tenth album bears all the hallmarks of producer Rick Rubin, with whom the band has worked on a number previous occasions, on the making of "Stadium Arcadium" (2006), "By The Way" (1999), "Californication" (1995) and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" (1991).

The band is currently made up of lead singer Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.

 They will be headlining the Summer Sonic Festival in Osaka on August 13th and will also be one of the leading acts at the Rock in Rio rock festival in Río de Janeiro on September 24th.

27 year old Spaniard who caused a coach crash on the A-7, in which nine Finnish tourists died, faces four years in prison.The coach front after the crash

The prosecutor has requested a four year jail sentence following the Torremolinos coach crash in April 2008 in which nine Finnish tourists died. The civil responsibility resulting from the case has already been paid by the assurance company and all those affected, including the driver of the bus, have received financial compensation.

The prosecutor wants the four year sentence to be applied to 27 year old Jesús G. R. the man considered to be responsible for the tragedy, and also wants him to face a six year driving ban. He was driving a Kia four wheel drive vehicle in torrential rain, and with a blood alcohol limit of 50 milligrams per litre on the A-7 Benalmádena bypass at an estimated 152 kms/hour, when on the downhill section towards Torremolinos, he lost control and ran into the back of the coach. The coach fell off the side of the road as a consequence of the impact after first hitting the central reservation. 26 people were injured in addition to the nine fatalities. Witnesses say that before the accident the driver had been seen overtaking dangerously both on the left and the right.

The Kia driver was admitted to prison in April 2008 after giving a statement to the instruction judge, and was granted 18,000 € bail in June the same year.

 

Three Marbella National Policemen arrested

The internal affairs unit of the National Police has arrested three policemen in Marbella on charges of extortion. The man considered to be the brains of the operation was already suspended without pay, and has been named as Juan Ginés C., an inspector who took early retirement and who had previously seen several disciplinary problems and conflicts with internal affairs.

He is well known for his participation in the Rocio Wanninkhof case, the girl who vanished from Mijas in 1999, considering her uncle could have been responsible; a theory which was later dismissed.

The three policemen are accused of intimidating a man of Moroccan origin to pay them between 100,000 and 200,000 €, but were unsuccessful in their attempt.

Instead, the Moroccan denounced them in Málaga, and now they have been arrested and will appear in Court 10 in Málaga shortly.

 

POLICE in Ronda have put an operation in place to prevent elderly people in the town being robbed

POLICE in Ronda have put an operation in place to prevent elderly people in the town being robbed after going to the bank to collect their pensions at the beginning of the month.

Ryanair passengers left on Sevilla tarmac with no air-conditioning and at 50 degrees

18 month old baby needed treatment for dehydration while a number of adults are reported to have fainted. Ryanair has blamed a passenger for what happened.


An 18 month old baby needed treatment for dehydration and several adults fainted after Ryanair left the passengeros on one of its flights on the tarmac at Sevilla airport for over two hours without air-conditioning.

El Mundo reports that temperatures rose to nearly 50 degrees as the delayed flight from Sevilla to Pisa sat on the tarmac between 1240 and 1450 during the heat of the day.
What’s more there were not enough bottles of water to go round, and so these were given only to the children.

The captain told the passengers, only in English and Italian, that the compressor had failed, and that he was unable to start either the plane’s engines or the air conditioning. He said that if the steps were lowered they would lose their flight slot.

Canal Sur reports that one fed up passenger finally went to one of the front doors and opened it so some fresh air could reach the passengers, thus triggering the emergency ramp. This was the trigger for the others to make their way off the plane, and it was then that the baby’s need for treatment for dehydration was handled by an ambulance crew which was scrambled to the plane.

One witness said ‘They would not let us leave the plane or give us any water. The people were very nervous, until finally one man opened the front door’. Another said that finally they gave out three or four bottles of water, but the stewardesses said that there was not water for everybody.

Spanish Airports Authority, AENA, said that the flight should have left at noon, and claim that the low-cost carrier took more than 45 minutes to ask for the truck which would eventually tow the plane back to the terminal. The use of the truck has to be rented from a third party company. AENA said they had handed out water even though it was not their responsibility to do so.

The passengers then remained in the terminal as the airline tried to repair the plane.
It finally took off five hours late at 1730.

Consumers Organisation FACUA on Friday denounced Ryanair to the consumers and air safety authorities for ‘putting the health of the passengers in danger’. They called for ‘exemplary fines’ to be enforced.

A statement from Ryanair on Friday, as reported by Cadena Ser but which has not appeared on the company’s website at the time of writing, has blamed a passenger for the delay to the flight from Sevilla to Pisa. They say the plane was unable to take off after the emergency ramp had been deployed by a passenger opening one of the front doors of the craft while they were working on repairing the plane.

They say the delay would have been only an hour due to a technical problem, but was extended by the passenger opening the door which meant that all the passengers were then obliged to disembark by the Captain. They note the plane cannot operate with the emergency chute deployed, and those responsible on board advised the police to handle the passengers ‘responsible for this disruption’. They describe the passenger as ‘insubordinate’.

The Ryanair statement ends with an apology for the delay and upset caused.

 

Queen tribute in Marbella 25 years on

A QUEEN Tribute Concert will be held on Pinillo Beach in Marbella on Friday, August 5, celebrating 40 years of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Now Gary Mullen & The Works will be performing their acclaimed international show ‘One Night Of Queen’. Over the past 10 years they’ve played sell-out concerts all over the world. On August 5, 1986, Queen and Freddie Mercury played their last-ever European concert to 25,000 people in Marbella's football stadium.

 

Thyssen Museum shows it first temporary exhibit in Málaga

The first temporary exhibit to be shown at the Thyssen Museum in Málaga has brought 60 works of modern Spanish painting to the city.

It’s just six weeks after the opening of the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Málaga and its permanent collection of 236 works which show Spanish art from the 19th century, paying special attention to works from Andalucía.

The first temporary exhibit is called, ‘Modern tradition in the Carmen Thyssen Collection. Monet. Picasso. Matisse. Miró.’

The Commissioner of the exhibit, Guillermo Solana, said it offered an ‘almost secret’ vision of the baroness’ collection, with many works which had not been on show before. More than a third of the works come from the Museo Thyssen in Madrid, and as well as the baroness’ collection, from the Catalan National Art Museum, MNAC.

The exhibition continues until October 16.

 

British investors reported to be buying Cádiz C.F. Glenn Hoddle has been linked to the mystery buyers

La Voz de Cádiz newspaper reports that a group of British investors has reached a verbal agreement to take over Cádiz Football Club.

The paper says little is known about the group, but they are based in Sotogrande. One rumour mentions the name of Glenn Hoddle who is thought to have lost more than five million € in a three year adventure with Jerez Industrial.

Contracts have already been translated and the main shareholder in the club, Antonio Muñoz, is reported to be waiting for a time and place to sign the traspaso. The paper says this follows days of meetings and the exchange of documentation.

The newspaper mentions a price of around three million €

 

Sail the coasts of Andalucia and Morocco

Star Clippers will operate a new series of sailings next year from Malaga in southern Spain, exploring the romantic Moorish heritage of Andalucia and Morocco.

The graceful 170-passenger square rigger Star Flyer has scheduled five seven-night cruises round-trip from Malaga with departure dates between September 15 and October 13, 2012.
 
Ports of call include Casablanca and Tangier in Morocco, for visits to the magnificent Hassan II Mosque, the market and the legendary Rick’s Café in Casablanca (a replica of the café featured in the famous film), and the Kasbah and historic Berber town of Tetouan from Tangier.

Star Flyer then sails across the approach to the Straits of Gibraltar, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean and one of the best spots in the area for whale and dolphin-watching. From historic Cadiz, one of the oldest cities in Spain, there’s a chance to visit Seville, Andalucia’s vibrant capital, famous for its flamenco dancing and Moorish architecture.
 
The ship then calls at Gibraltar, an outpost of Britain with a long and fascinating military history, before sailing along the sun-drenched Costa del Sol to Motril, the closest port from which to visit Granada, setting of the magnificent Alhambra’s palace and Generalife Gardens, with the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains as a backdrop.

Two further cruises include this historic region in 2012. A six-night voyage from Lisbon to Malaga, departing September 9, calls at Portimao, Cadiz, Tangier, Gibraltar and Motril. There’s another chance to explore part of Andalucia on the first leg of the ship’s transatlantic repositioning cruise, from Malaga to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Departing October 20, 2012, ports of call include Tangier and Cadiz, before spending two days at sea en route to Funchal, Madeira, and a further sea day before Las Palmas.

The new sailings from Malaga are in addition to Star Flyer’s new season of sailing in the Baltic sea from May 2011, that include an ex-UK departure from Southampton on May 5th 2011.

 

Spain’s Parliament rejected a law that would have eased the effect of mortgage foreclosures for as many as 300,000 homeowners who have lost their properties.

The Galician National Block, known as the BNG in Spain, had asked legislators to amend the law to allow mortgage holders to walk away from their debt by handing over the keys to their properties. It also would have permitted homeowners to delay mortgage payments beyond stipulated deadlines and to consent to partial debt write-offs. Lawmakers rejected the proposals, Parliament said on its website late last night.
Under Spanish law, if a foreclosed property is sold for less than the outstanding mortgage on the asset, the bank can claim the difference from the borrower. Lenders can make a claim against all of a borrower’s present and future assets and earnings.
The number of foreclosed properties in Spain has climbed tenfold in three years as unemployment reached 21 percent of the working population, the highest in the European Union, according to Idealista.com, the country’s largest property website. Home prices fell for the 12th straight quarter in the three months through March and have dropped 15 percent from the peak three years earlier, the National Statistics Institute said today.
Idealista advertises more than 30,000 foreclosed homes worth 4.6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) on behalf of 40 Spanish banks and savings banks. That’s up from just 3,000 in June 2009, according to the company’s website.
Social Problem
“We are talking about a social problem of the highest order,” Francisco Xesus Jorquera, a BNG lawmaker, said by telephone from Madrid yesterday before the vote. “It’s a debate that must take place as there is social outcry for the mortgage law to be reformed.”
As many as 300,000 homes were foreclosed in Spain between 2008 and 2010, according to the text of the proposal.
Spain’s Parliament has created a committee to study possible changes to the country’s mortgage rules and whether the current law allows for abusive practices, the assembly said on its website on June 8. The commission has until December to present a report on its findings.
“If banks had to assume losses that would result from pardoning mortgages granted during Spain’s real-estate boom, the Spanish financial system would collapse,” said Jesus Encinar, founder and chief executive officer of Idealista.com.
The housing boom that ended in 2008 left Spanish banks with 315.8 billion euros in loans related to real-estate activities in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the Bank of Spain. That’s after they were forced to take on properties and land in return for canceling debt to bankrupt developers.
If the law was modified to allow homeowners to hand over their keys and walk away from their debts, it would hurt banks’ balance sheets and force them to raise their lending costs for new mortgages as well as force mortgage holders to take out costly insurance to cover the risk of non-payment, Encinar said.

A GOLF professional from Burton is believed to be in a Spanish jail facing accusations of child sex abuse.

Sean William Stiff, who ran El Soto de Marbella Golf Club, on the Costa del Sol, is behind bars as investigations continue into the allegations.
Stiff, 39, who formerly played at Branston Golf and Country Club, was arrested after his alleged victim, now in her teens, claimed he had abused her for five years.
The allegations, which remain under investigation by Spanish prosecutors and have not been proven, have, for now at least, curtailed an idyllic lifestyle Stiff is thought to have enjoyed since moving to Spain from Burton six years ago.
Initially the golf professional at Cabopino Golf Club, he became head professional at El Chaparral Golf Club before moving to El Soto.
He is understood to have taught golf, run competitions and set up a children’s academy.
Stiff is thought to have been hit by the abuse allegations only weeks after moving into a new house near Marbella.
British officials, meanwhile, are remaining tightlipped about a matter they regard is one for the Spanish authorities.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “I can confirm the arrest of a British national in Spain.
“Consular assistance is being provided and we are in touch with next of kin.” Staffordshire Police said they had not been informed of any legal proceedings against Stiff.

A FIRM of lawyers in Marbella, Lexland, are to bring a class action for compensation on behalf of the thousands affected by the Movistar fire

A FIRM of lawyers in Marbella, Lexland, are to bring a class action for compensation on behalf of the thousands affected by the Movistar fire which left them without service for several days. ON May 6, a fire at the Movistar telephone exchange in Malaga affected around 90,000 people.

In total the fire is thought to have affected 50,000 phone lines and broadband connections and some mobile phone connections across Malaga Province.

For almost a week, thousands of homes, ATMs, businesses and even public utilities were without a telephone and internet line, harming their businesses.

Some of those affected reportedly had to wait up to 12 days for reconnection.

Movistar said they would be entitled to an average of €1 per day compensation.

Consumer protection group FACUA described the compensation as “ridiculous.”

MARBELLA is going to launch a dynamic marketing campaign via social networking sites such as Facebook

MARBELLA is going to launch a dynamic marketing campaign via social networking sites such as Facebook, to attract young tourists with money to spend. This was one of the ideas put forward at the Marbella Luxury Weekend, during which a panel of 10 experts in tourism, including local tourism councilor, Jose Luis Hernandez.

The panelists, all linked to the luxury sector, such as Maria de la Hera from Bulgari, Spain, discussed what is needed to keep the more exclusive visitors coming to Marbella, an area which is seeing financial recovery and has the goods to attract even the most demanding tastes.

They also underlined the importance of maintaining the city clean and safe, and promoting it via new methods such as the internet, used by the new profile of visitors to Marbella, normally in their earlier thirties, as well as adapting to each type of clients, whether they are Arabs, British or Eastern European.

Estepona Town Hall finds its bank accounts embargoed

The judge in the First Instance Court 3 in Estepona has ordered the Town Hall accounts be embargoed to satisfy a debt demanded by Deutsche Bank. The Town Hall accounts in 13 different banks in the town have been embargoed to try to fund the 360,000 € debt.

The Town Hall has appealed the embargo saying it needs money for basic public services, such as telephone and rubbish collection, which according to the Ley Reguladora de Haciendas Locales cannot be embargoed.

It’s the second time a company has taken this route to be paid by the Estepona Town Hall. The company Obras Caminos y Redes S.A. obtained an embargo of current accounts in March 2010 to recover 365,000 € it was owed.

Acting Mayor, David Valadez from the PSOE, said that the 360,000 € demanded dates from ‘a much earlier time’ before the current team came to power. Valadez came to power in June 2008 after the Astapa corruption case broke, but the town will be governed by the PP after June 11 when the new corporations are established.

 

former client advisor for Spanish customers at Swiss bank UBS (UBS.N) (UBSN.VX) is facing criminal charges after allegedly cheating wealthy clients out of around 20 million Swiss francs ($23.99 million)

former client advisor for Spanish customers at Swiss bank UBS (UBS.N) (UBSN.VX) is facing criminal charges after allegedly cheating wealthy clients out of around 20 million Swiss francs ($23.99 million), a Swiss newspaper said on Sunday.

Switzerland's SonntagsZeitung quoted Markus Fasano, a prosecutor of the Zurich-Sihl Public Attorney's Office, as saying it had started investigations into the client advisor at the start of April 2010.

"The process against the involved party is still in the stages of police investigation," Fasano was quoted as saying.

According to the newspaper, the client advisor was working with ultra high net worth clients in Spain.

A spokesman for the bank declined to comment on the figure but said: "UBS confirms that inconsistencies in its business with Spanish clients were discovered in early 2010.

"UBS filed criminal charges, and the involved client advisor was laid off without notice. All affected clients were reimbursed by UBS."

The founder and top executives behind former holiday home giant MRI face legal action in Spain after hundreds of Britons allegedly lost money estimated to amount to £13million.

The founder and top executives behind former holiday home giant MRI face legal action in Spain after hundreds of Britons allegedly lost money estimated to amount to £13million.

Dubliner Darragh MacAnthony, who owns Peterborough Football Club, which has just won promotion to the Championship, set up MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) in Marbella as the Millennium began.

Hugely popular on the British market, MRI boasted a £100 million annual turnover before the credit crunch. As well as property development in Spain, MRI marketed villas and apartments in Morocco, Bulgaria and Cape Verde, where the company also arranged furniture supplies.

But now MacAnthony, 35, and his former joint chief executives, Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering, have been accused of ‘theft by swindle and misappropriation of funds’ in a claim filed in Madrid by 60 British and Irish claimants who say they lost more than half a million pounds in undelivered furniture five years ago.

Lawyer Antonio Flores of Marbella- based property solicitors Lawbird, accused MacAnthony of failing in an obligation to file for insolvency for his Spanish companies. 

MacAnthony and his former chief executives have consistently denied any wrongdoing. In relation to the forthcoming claim, MacAnthony, speaking from the US, said: ‘There are no foundations behind these allegations. I certainly didn’t do anything wrong and neither did anyone with MRI when I was there.’
The allegations made in Spain follow what Northern Ireland MP Sammy Wilson described in the House of Commons last year as a property fraud where MRI, or related companies such as MRI Overseas Property, acted as the developer.
The company used programmes on the Property TV Channel hosted by MacAnthony’s younger sister, Wendy, to market holiday homes.




In 2008, as a result of complaints against MRI, a tribunal held by the National Federation of Property Professionals said it was ‘appalled to hear of the company’s misleading business practices’. It issued fines of £5,000 and MacAnthony resigned his membership of the Federation.
Prompted by complaints from British customers, the Serious Fraud Office looked into MRI but took no action. However, it sent alleged victims a letter which said that although it did not intend to prosecute anyone, this did not mean that an offence had not been committed elsewhere.
The Costa del Sol property empire has all but vanished. An investigation traced MRI companies to an empty office in Madrid.

Documents show that last October MacAnthony and Pickering, as directors, handed MRI Overseas Property Group to a Peruvian company, under the directorship of octogenarian Fernando Arespacochaga, which appears to have never traded.

John and Muriel Andrews from Ballycarry, Co Antrim, paid £26,000 for a furniture pack in 2006, but Mr Andrews said: ‘We as yet have received no furniture, no offer of a refund, no apology.’

The founder and top executives behind former holiday home giant MRI face legal action in Spain

The founder and top executives behind former holiday home giant MRI face legal action in Spain after hundreds of Britons allegedly lost money estimated to amount to £13million.

Dubliner Darragh MacAnthony, who owns Peterborough Football Club, which has just won promotion to the Championship, set up MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) in Marbella as the Millennium began.

Hugely popular on the British market, MRI boasted a £100 million annual turnover before the credit crunch. As well as property development in Spain, MRI marketed villas and apartments in Morocco, Bulgaria and Cape Verde, where the company also arranged furniture supplies.

But now MacAnthony, 35, and his former joint chief executives, Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering, have been accused of ‘theft by swindle and misappropriation of funds’ in a claim filed in Madrid by 60 British and Irish claimants who say they lost more than half a million pounds in undelivered furniture five years ago.

Lawyer Antonio Flores of Marbella- based property solicitors Lawbird, accused MacAnthony of failing in an obligation to file for insolvency for his Spanish companies. 


MacAnthony and his former chief executives have consistently denied any wrongdoing. In relation to the forthcoming claim, MacAnthony, speaking from the US, said: ‘There are no foundations behind these allegations. I certainly didn’t do anything wrong and neither did anyone with MRI when I was there.’
The allegations made in Spain follow what Northern Ireland MP Sammy Wilson described in the House of Commons last year as a property fraud where MRI, or related companies such as MRI Overseas Property, acted as the developer.
The company used programmes on the Property TV Channel hosted by MacAnthony’s younger sister, Wendy, to market holiday homes.




In 2008, as a result of complaints against MRI, a tribunal held by the National Federation of Property Professionals said it was ‘appalled to hear of the company’s misleading business practices’. It issued fines of £5,000 and MacAnthony resigned his membership of the Federation.
Prompted by complaints from British customers, the Serious Fraud Office looked into MRI but took no action. However, it sent alleged victims a letter which said that although it did not intend to prosecute anyone, this did not mean that an offence had not been committed elsewhere.
The Costa del Sol property empire has all but vanished. An investigation traced MRI companies to an empty office in Madrid.

Documents show that last October MacAnthony and Pickering, as directors, handed MRI Overseas Property Group to a Peruvian company, under the directorship of octogenarian Fernando Arespacochaga, which appears to have never traded.

John and Muriel Andrews from Ballycarry, Co Antrim, paid £26,000 for a furniture pack in 2006, but Mr Andrews said: ‘We as yet have received no furniture, no offer of a refund, no apology.’

BRITISH expat has been arrested after allegedly stabbing a fellow Brit who he accused of having an affair with his wife.

The 48-year-old, identified by the initials P.D, was apprehended after a 32-year-old man was discovered with a stab wound at a bus stop in Torremolinos.
The victim was taken first to a local medical centre and then to hospital in Malaga after allegedly being attacked at his home.


It is believed that the attacker worked at a bar visited regularly by the victim and his wife.

Hiker missing in El Chorro

GUARDIA CIVIL are searching for a man who went missing at El Chorro in Malaga while he was hiking. His disappearance was reported by a Polish friend of his last Sunday at the local station.

 

Sports councillor hit by car while out cycling

THE interim Sports Councillor at Algeciras Town Hall, Julio Martinez Firvida, was knocked down by a car while cycling on the A-7 between Algeciras and Malaga. The 62-year-old councillor was said to be in a severe but stable condition, with injuries to his face and arms and several broken bones, but nothing life-threatening.

He was taken to the Punta de Europa Hospital in Algeciras, and later to the Puerta del Mar Hospital in Cadiz for maxillofacial surgery.

He was with another cyclist, who was slightly injured, when he was knocked down by a vehicle as they passed a petrol station.